Bonnie Campbell Hill and Katherine Schlick Noe persuaded Janine King that writing a book together about literature circles in Janine's middle school classroom would be a simple project. And she fell for it. We began by "picking her brain" as we met each month, and Janine articulated how literature circles worked with middle school students and how they had changed over time. Bonnie and Katherine took notes and Janine collected student samples. We crafted drafts, sent multiple e-mails back and forth, and the book slowly took shape.

Over the years, the three of us have collaborated on numerous professional presentations, and Bonnie and Katherine have co-authored other books on literature circles. Yet, you'll hear just one voice in this book – Janine’s. We wanted you to feel as if you're walking into her classroom, listening in on her deliberations, and making teaching decisions alongside her. We had to find a way to accomplish this without overwhelming the book with voices or writing in the distant third person. So the three of us wrote in the first person, contributing equally to telling the story that unfolds.

The Structure of This Book
When we read professional books, we don't want generalities. We crave details and examples in order to picture how the ideas might really work in a classroom. Therefore, we have included quotes and writing from Janine’s students, and she has been honest about her successes and failures. We have also tried to capture how literature circles have changed in Janine’s classroom over the past few years.

In middle school, early adolescents are simultaneously honing their reading and writing skills and trying to figure out their place in the larger world. Chapter 1 sets a context for literature circles with this unique and energetic age group. We explain where literature circles fit in Janine’s middle school language arts curriculum and how they meet some of the unique needs of young adolescents. In chapters 2 and 3 we provide specific examples of how Janine plans her literature circle units each year. We also talk about how she selects books, including lists of some of the titles and literature circle units she has found successful at various grade levels.

Conversation is at the core of literature circles. We describe how Janine helps students learn to talk about books independently in chapter 4. We explain how she supports students' responses through writing in chapter 5 and how she has changed the expectations and format each year as she seeks to elicit quality work from her students. Chapter 6 addresses extending students' response to literature through the arts. We have included lists of possible extension projects, as well as ways that these responses can help students to dig deeper into the books they are reading. In chapters 4 through 6, we include specific focus lessons that Janine has used and examples of how she evaluates students. We conclude each chapter with some last thoughts about Janine’s next steps in her journey as a learner, a teacher, a reader, and a writer.

Bonnie Campbell Hill, Katherine L. Schlick Noe,
and Janine A. King

Also in this series ...

Getting Started with Literature Circles

Katherine L. Schlick Noe
and Nancy J. Johnson

© 1999 Christopher-Gordon

Literature Circles Resource Guide

Bonnie Campbell Hill,
Katherine L. Schlick Noe, and
Nancy J. Johnson

© 2001 Christopher-Gordon

Literature Circles and Response

edited by
Bonnie Campbell Hill, Nancy J. Johnson, and Katherine L. Schlick Noe

© 1995 Christopher-Gordon